By: Josh S. Tatum, Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP
IndyBar’s Appellate Practice Section had an exceptional 2022. I had the pleasure of serving as chair, following Ruth Johnson and followed by Chris Bayh, both exceptional lawyers and leaders. Among other things, this year brought a return to in-person meetings of the Executive Committee. Thanks so much to you and the rest of our section’s roughly 150 members for your ongoing participation and support.
Here’s a rundown of what the section accomplished this year.
CLEs - The section hosted or cohosted five seminars free to CLE+ members:
- Parting Words from Justice Steven David: The Footnotes You Might Actually Want to Read, April 6, featuring now-former Justice Steven David (replay available here)
- Framing and Phrasing Issues on Appeal and Transfer, May 24, featuring Chief Justice Loretta Rush, Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Melissa May, McKinney Prof. Joel Schumm, and Frost Brown Todd LLC’s Maggie Smith (replay available here)
- Appellate Practice Annual Roundtable, August 23, featuring Chief Justice Loretta Rush, Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Paul D. Mathias, and then-Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Derek R. Molter (replay available here)
- U.S. Supreme Court: Review and Preview, September 29, featuring Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP’s Jane Dall Wilson (replay available here)
- How Unappealing – Analysis of the Gender Gap Among Appellate Attorneys, December 9, cohosted with the Women and the Law Division, featuring Seventh Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve and Munger Tolles & Olson LLP’s Jamie B. Luguri (replay available here)
Blog posts - Section members and others provided the following posts for the section’s web pages:
Indiana Appellate Institute moots. The Indiana Appellate Institute hosted fourteen moots and raised over $3,000 this year. Many thanks to the volunteer coordinators and judges who made this award-winning program possible in 2022:
- Arend Abel
- Tawfiq Ali
- Bryan Babb
- Thomas Blessing
- Neal Bowling
- Brad Catlin
- Lucy Dollens
- Michael G. Getty
- Libby Yin Goodknight
- Talisha Griffin
- Michelle Harter
- Ruth Johnson
- Brian Karle
- Kevin Koons
- Lara Langeneckert
- Jon Laramore
- Cynthia Lasher
- Mike Limrick
- Deb Markisohn
- Marie Miller
- Stephen Peters
- Quincy Sauer
- Joel Schumm
- Jenna Shives
- Lahny Silva
- Zach Stock
- Josh Tatum
- Bob Wood
- Judy Woods
Support for Judge Pryor. In June the Executive Committee authorized the section to submit a letter to the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee to recommend the confirmation of then-U.S. Magistrate Judge Doris L. Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The IndyBar and the Indiana State Bar Association submitted a joint letter as well. The Senate confirmed Judge Pryor on December 5 on a 60–31 vote. Among many firsts, Judge Pryor is President Biden’s first appellate court appointee to garner support from a state’s two Republican senators.
Hour of Power. In July the section cohosted a lunch networking event at IndyBar headquarters with the Labor and Employment Section and the Professionalism Committee. The event was free thanks to sponsor Cleveland Lehner Cassidy.
Reception for Justice Molter. On November 8 the section cohosted with the Indiana State Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section a reception for newly appointed Justice Derek R. Molter at Hotel Tango. This event was free to section members.
Awarded scholarship to AJEI. The section regularly provides scholarships for lawyers to attend the Appellate Judges Education Institute. This year’s recipient was Sarah Medlin of the Marion County Public Defender Agency. The summit was hosted November 10–13 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The 2023 summit will be November 2–5 in Washington, D.C.
Amicus briefs. The section participated as amicus in two cases this year. In Conroad Associates, L.P. v. Castleton Corner Owners Association, Inc., No. 21A-PL-1125, the section filed a brief led by Paul Jefferson. It asked the Supreme Court to clarify when a trial court may act after an appellate court assumes jurisdiction. Below, the trial court had exercised jurisdiction related to the collection of a judgment in a way that affect an order on appeal. The Court granted transfer and held oral argument on November 15.
In Means v. State, No. 21A-CR-5270, the section filed a brief led by Joel Schumm. It asked the Supreme Court to grant transfer to provide guidance about the dismissal of jurisdictionally sound interlocutory appeals after the Court of Appeals accepts them and after extensive briefing. In this case, the State did not oppose the criminal defendant’s interlocutory appeal, and neither party asked the Court of Appeals to dismiss the appeal in their merits briefing. The Court of Appeals then sua sponte dismissed the appeal, writing that the certified, accepted, and fully briefed issue was “not ripe for review.”
A decade of advocacy pays off. In December the Indiana Supreme Court adopted an amendment to Appellate Rule 65(D) to allow lawyers to cite as persuasive precedent memorandum decisions issued after January 1, 2023. The section has actively advocated for the change for the past decade, including a proposal to the Rules Committee in 2013 and in amicus briefs filed in 2019 and 2021.
Term limits, amicus changes, etc. In late 2021, we adopted bylaw amendments that added term limits to our Executive Committee. This will provide fresh faces each year to our Executive Committee, and it will give a larger number of section members an opportunity to serve on the committee. The changes still allow an individual to serve up to eleven consecutive years on the committee (two three-year terms as an at-large member and one year in each of the five offices from secretary to immediate past chair). This structure balances rotating membership on the committee with long-term strategic planning and leadership.
The bylaw amendments also made adjustments to the process by which the section decides whether to participate as an amicus and some other clarifying changes.
The IndyBar Board of Governors approved all these changes in early 2022.
Task force on Supreme Court’s mandatory jurisdiction. The Executive Committee initiated a task force to study whether to recommend a change to Indiana Appellate Rule 4(A)(1). That rule gives the Indiana Supreme Court mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from death sentences and sentences of life without parole. The task force may recommend eliminating mandatory appeals from sentences of life without parole, given that these often involve routine questions of law and many sentences that do not fall within that category involve de facto life sentences.
Elected new Executive Committee members. At the last Executive Committee meeting of 2022, we elected Sarah Medlin of the Marion County Public Defender Agency and Bob Wood of the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Indiana to join the Executive Committee. We also elected Paul Jefferson Vice Chair and Talisha Griffin secretary. Lucy Dollens and Ruth Johnson both ended long-term and excellent service on the committee. This means 2023’s Executive Committee consists of the following:
- Chris Bayh, Chair
- Stephen Peters, Chair-Elect
- Paul Jefferson, Vice Chair
- Talisha Griffin, Secretary
- Josh Tatum, Immediate Past Chair
- Bryan Babb
- Karen Celestino-Horseman
- Libby Goodknight
- Sarah Medlin
- Carol Nemeth Joven
- Joel Schumm
- Zach Stock
- Bob Wood
New section liaison. In the fall LaQuita Cassell moved to a different position after leaving the IndyBar. We welcomed our work with Meredith Dover (mdover@indybar.org) and look forward to getting to know her better in the coming year.
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